


Ultimately

by Moldie_Feelings



Category: Sky High (2005)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Past Rape/Non-con, Recovery, no beta readers we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 11:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24849346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moldie_Feelings/pseuds/Moldie_Feelings
Summary: Warren didn’t consider himself a nosy person. He liked his secrets, and other people liked theirs, and he was fine with that. But the curiosity was something else. It drew him to Will, to his tense shoulders and Layla’s anxious rambles of Will having been a person of tactile affection but he almost snapped a table when she went to put her hand on his shoulder, and, staring at Will now, even he felt unsettled. The boy was taking shallow, quiet breaths, staring past the floor and into something else, somewhere else, sometime else.(And he knew he couldn't just drop this.).In which Warren notices Will is jumpy and decides to ask, and gets something a lot more complicated than what he thought he was getting into.
Relationships: (like if you squint you can feel Some vibes), Warren Peace/Will Stronghold, Will Stronghold & Warren Peace
Comments: 11
Kudos: 144





	Ultimately

Will bristled.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Warren glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and pretended to go back to what he was doing, although he was truly focusing on the boy next to him. Even before homecoming, Will had… changed. Sure, he had been battle-ready, but he was more withdrawn. Aggressive. Jumpy.

He’d put it to the battle with Royal Pain, but that look in his eyes had also been there at the Paper Lantern. If anything, he had looked absolutely exhausted then. No fire behind his eyes, just a deep, dark, emptiness.

Warren didn’t consider himself a nosy person. He liked his secrets, and other people liked theirs, and he was fine with that. But the curiosity was something else. It drew him to Will, to his tense shoulders and Layla’s anxious rambles of Will having been a person of tactile affection but he almost snapped a table when she went to put her hand on his shoulder, and, staring at Will now, even he felt unsettled. The boy was taking shallow, quiet breaths, staring past the floor and into something else, somewhere else, sometime else.

“Stronghold. Stronghold. I— _Will_ , you in there?”

Will startled and turned to face Warren in a panic, eyes flitting about the room as if searching for something in the shadows. He finally seemed to truly notice Warren and breathed out.

“Don’t—” Will took another too-shallow breath, “don’t startle me like that.”

“All I did was say your name,” Warren said. He forced himself to relax his shoulders, even if Will’s skittishness was grating on him. All their other friends seemed to just skirt around Will or try to pretend nothing was wrong (biting them when Will exploded after a clap on his back or a too sudden movement) but Warren had never been one for social grace. And he was getting a little sick of it. “Why are you being so skittish?”

Will blinked slowly, cocking his head. Those eyes always made him looked like a kicked puppy and it was making Warren feel weird.

“Skittish? I’m not skittish. I’m fine. I’m _fine_.” Will’s voice wavered. Warren raised a single brow.

“I call bull,” he said simply, and there it was, the anger. Well, maybe not anger? It seemed more like panic if he paid attention.

“I’m _fine_ , Warren; just leave me alone.”

“No. Not until you tell me why you’re being so… _weird_.”

“What do you mean ‘weird’? I’m _fucking fine_ and I just need everybody to _back off_ and—” Will clamped a hand over his mouth. “I didn’t mean to cuss at you, I’m so sorry Warren, oh gosh.”

“Don’t think I’ve heard you swear before…” Warren mumbled before shaking his head and trying to lock eyes with Will’s averted gaze. “Listen, that’s what I mean. You don’t raise your voice at people, you don’t cuss, yet here you are. Something happened. Was it the thing with Royal Pain? She can’t cause anyone trouble from prison.”

Will flinched at her name, and Warren squinted.

“So it is Royal Pain?” Even Ethan had gotten over his bouts of nightmares. Then again, he guessed those _were_ Will’s parents in danger. Warren pinched the bridge of his nose and reminded himself to be patient, even thought it was hard. “What about it? Like, the fight?”

“N-no.”

Will’s anger and panic dissipated, replaced with complete and utter defeat. Something Warren wouldn’t typically associate with the most stubborn goody-two-shoes he’d ever met. Something in his stomach twisted.

“Then what?”

Will looked nauseous, pale and clammy and— hang on, was Stronghold shaking? Yeah, yeah he was. Small tremors wracking his body and Warren got the impression he was way out of his depth, even more than he thought. His stomach twisted.

“Stronghold? Did something else happen between the two of you?” Warren asked, and this was way too much of a touchy subject, and Veggie Tales should be here instead of him because _what is happening_.

“…Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Will said, putting down the crumbled paper he was holding. He was surprised he hadn’t ripped it with how tense he was. Will let out a trembling breath and blinked, trying to get the faraway look out of his eyes. “It’s stupid, really.”

“It’s probably not as stupid as you think it is if you’re so shaken up about it.”

Maybe he said the right thing, because Will stopped tensing and instead rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, still staring at nothing.

“But it is stupid. It wasn’t that bad. I just can’t seem to get over myself.” And Warren rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth because all this vagueness was too much to even try to decipher.

“I’ve seen your pity parties, and this isn’t it,” Warren said. “Now walk me through your mental gymnastics. I’m not a mind reader, Stronghold.”

Stronghold laughed. It was a single sound, and it didn’t sound at all humorous, but it was a reaction that wasn’t incoherent rambling and Warren would take whatever he could get right now.

“I, um.” Will pressed his hands to his face, covering it from Warren. “She— Royal P— _Gwen_ , because she was just _Gwen_ , I, we…”

Wait shit was Stronghold sniffling? What did he just get himself into?

“I was… the committee, they were having problems, so she called them over, and then those people called people over, and then it was a whole party, and I mean, I didn’t know any of these people, not really, but.” Will shook his head and had to stop himself from tugging at his hair and destroying his scalp. So he clenched his fists instead and tried to take deep breaths, but they all became shallow.

“And we needed to talk, because I wanted her to kick these people out, but she asked for a more private place, and I don’t know, I wanted her to be happy, so I took her to the place where my parents manage all their hero stuff, and I thought we were going to talk but—” Will sniffed and tried not to sob. It wasn’t really working, but Warren would let him have this. Warren was putting the pieces together, anyway, and if he could postpone having his theory confirmed then he was fine.

But he wasn’t fine. Because Stronghold wasn’t fine.

Because Will wasn’t fine, and that kind of hurt.

Will took his time, and Warren numbly thought he should probably tell Will to breathe before the ~~moron~~ guy passed out from hyperventilating, but he was glued to his spot trying to think.

He needed to not jump to conclusions.

“I mean, I have super-strength, I could have stopped her,” Will rambled, skirting around the point, and Warren knew from context alone but he needed to ask anyway. He wanted to be wrong. He _needed_ to be wrong. 

“Stopped her from what?”

Will clenched his jaw and oh, he was crying, and now Warren’s eyes burned in a very unpleasant way.

“But I didn’t say no. I don’t think I did. I was too shocked to say anything. _Do_ anything. Should've said no. But I didn't say no.” It was like Warren wasn’t even there as Will muttered to himself.

“Will, Will, _Will_ , _listen_.” Will stopped but didn’t turn to face Warren. “Turn to look at me. Uh, please.”

With effort, Will turned his head until his tear-stained face and puffy eyes met Warren, and now Warren could swear his heart was way too loud.

“I don’t think it matters if you didn’t say no,” Warren said awkwardly. “You didn’t say yes, so…” What would literally anybody else say about this? He was stuck. “It’s not your fault, is what I’m trying to say.”

“But you weren’t there, you don’t know for sure,” Will responded meekly. He looked so, so tired. Warren was glad he wasn’t there. He would have killed her right then and there. Still, he _did_ know.

“I do know,” Warren said.

Will seemed to struggle to find his voice, and Warren was struggling to hear over the blood rushing in his ears, and he almost missed it. Still, hearing it confirmed his theory, and that was just so much worse. But Will having to repeat it would have probably hurt him more, so this was better. If there even was a ‘better’ in these situations.

“I think… I think I might have been raped.”

Nausea bubbled under the surface, and fire wanted to leave his body, but this was something fire couldn’t fix, nor super-strength, nor flight.

“Did you uh… Did you tell your parents?”

Another weak laugh. Imitation of a laugh.

“What kind of a conversation is that? The son of The Commander and Jetstream saying to their faces that he- that he… that he…” It seemed to hit Will all over again and now he was crying, and Warren would be lying if he said he didn’t feel like joining him. Still, he held it together.

“Are you worried they won’t believe you?”

“I just want to stop being weak,” Will said shakily, and Warren grumbled.

“Will, you’re not weak. Are you kidding me? You saved a whole school from someone who hurt you. If that’s weak I don’t know what kind of standards you have for what ‘strong’ means.”

“…Maybe I should tell my parents,” was all Will said, and he guessed it was progress. “Thanks for listening.”

“What else are friends for?” Warren said, and Will Stronghold was his closest friend, and dammit he cared for this boy.

Will smiled genuinely for the first time in weeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Watching this after my high school graduation while dissociated as all hell, check. Seeing an opportunity to shove my feelings onto a fictional character, check. Taking that opportunity, check. Not waiting a day to proofread with fresh eyes, check.  
> Being a bilingual weirdo who felt "welcoming" was the wrong word and then remembered the word "homecoming"? also check.  
> (The idea came from the realization he was just being manipulated by a technically much older person and I wanted to expand on it with a pinch of "what if I projected" and then this happened and idk I might come back to Sky High to make something not terribly angsty.)  
> Anyway this is a standalone and oneshot, so like... yeah.  
> See y'all around?  
> Stay hydrated.


End file.
